A Song Never Heard
by kirin-saga
Summary: As melody ends, words flowing through night, The song's never heard and love's faded from sight.


**Title: A Song Never Heard  
Author: Cheysuli Night  
Rated: PG-13  
Pairing: Iruka/Kakashi  
Warning: Shounen-ai, angst, tragedy, character death.  
A/N: Written for the Kakairu Contest.  
Number of Words: 1,000 (not counting the header or the poem at the end).  
Disclaimer/Claimer: Kakashi and Iruka, sadly, do not belong to me. The poem at the end of this fic, however, is mine. All mine so _no touchy_.  
Summary: _As melody ends, words flowing through night, The song's never heard and love's faded from sight.  
_**

* * *

**_  
_**

_"I love it when you sing for me."_

Soft, distant, almost hesitant humming filled the shadowed grove, blending and sometimes just barely being overwhelmed by the whispered cries and choked sobs of the ninja and civilians that crowded around the stone monument. Pale flowers littered the ground, sweat peas and morning glories and lavender laid scattered together upon the ground. Some were carefully and lovingly placed yet many others showed signs of having been inadvertently crushed in shaking, clinching hands.

_"Oh, come **on**! You know I can't sing."_

The humming began to grow in strength yet stayed soft, barely audible, weaving effortlessly through the whispers and tear-filled sighs of the black clad mourners Feeling more confident now, the singer himself drifted towards the crowd, leaving behind the security of the familiar oak tree and gliding gracefully, effortlessly through the close knit group.

_"You are such a **liar**! You have the best voice of anyone I know."_

The humming was easier to hear now as most of the mourners finished their prayers and did their best to wipe their tears away as they began the painful and empty walk back to their lonely homes. The singer ignored them as they brushed passed him and placed his hand lightly on the cool stone, tracing the newly carved name.

_"**Fine **then. I'll sing for you. Even though I always forget the words."_

The song had words now, faint murmurs that were almost indistinguishable from the previous despondent sound. The song was hesitant again, rising and falling in pitch, as if the singer was afraid of being heard by the crowd he was only faintly aware of. His hand drifted to a set of older, smoother, warmer carvings and the song briefly took on a slightly happier tone before falling back into the soft echoes of grief.

_"You will? Promise me you will?"_

The singer smiled sadly, moving slowly away from the cold and warm monument and bringing his hand to his chest as if imagining he could feel the same slow steady beat that resonated from deep within the stone. The song fluctuated in tone and dropped again in volume until the mournful words were mere whispers and the haunting melody simply a soundless breeze.

_"I promise I'll sing for you when I get back from my mission. You have my word on that."_

The singer frowned as his song came to a hopeless end, his lips still moving silently as if attempting to recapture the lost and lonely melody. He brought a shaking hand to his cold face, fingers clawing briefly at his bare skin before moving to twist in his unruly and tangled hair. He sucked in a gasping breath, still hoping to catch the fading song, and turned slowly to the only other person still in the darkening grove. The singer smiled slightly and cocked his head, releasing his hair and reaching out to softly touch the man's tan skin. His smile fell into a confused frown when his touch was ignored, watching curiously as the man shivered and wrapped his arms tightly around himself. "Promise?" the singer whispered, lowering his trembling hand, wanting yet hesitant to touch him again. "I promised..."

_"Promise me that you'll get home safely then. I want to hear you sing again."_

The singer was feeling upset now. The man, one of the only two things he could fully focus on, was ignoring him and was just standing there in pained silence, his tear filled eyes gazing at the only other thing the singer was aware of. "You never promised," the singer breathed. "You'd listen." The singer began to back unsteadily away from the man, his hand once again on his chest, searching for a beat that wasn't there. "I promised I'd sing for you and I did." He was crying now, choking now, his tears blurring his vision and causing everything to fade away. "I _did_. I _promised._ I _sang_ for you," he choked, wanting to run back to the man standing so heart broken and alone in front of the Memorial Stone but he _couldn't_. "Why won't you _listen_?"

_"I promise I'll try to come home safe. I'm sorry but that's the best I can do."_

The singer choked back a sob, reaching a pale and shaking hand towards the man who had turned towards him at last. "I'm sorry," he whispered brokenly. There was another song now, faint and distant, the peaceful harmony growing in strength and power and coming from the deep echoes of the stone. "I tried." Pale fingers twisted in silver hair, nails clawed a maskless face, as the ethereal song pulled him towards the ever growing, never ending, heartbeat of the Memorial Stone. "Why won't you listen?" Another cry, another hopeless attempt to reach the other man, the one he loved, would always love, and the singer was gone, fading away to join the endless life of the Hero's Stone, his last words whispering soundlessly through the trees.

_"The best you can do, Kakashi?"_

The lone man choked back a sob, falling heavily to his knees as the ghostly and unfelt presence began to fade from the grove, and scrubbed harshly at his scarred face in an attempt to stop the flow of tears as he stared longingly at the newly carved name of his lover. "You promised," he choked, reaching out to touch the deceptively warm stone and desperately wishing the name would suddenly turn into his own instead. That _he_ had been the one to die, the one to never come home. The one to never sing again no matter how the hard other begged.

_"The best I can do, Iruka."_

Iruka knelt there, shaking and crying and still staring hopelessly at Kakashi's name carved so deeply and final in the stone of the dead. "You promised," he whispered harshly, never seeing, never feeling, a pale hand caressing his own as it faded away. Never hearing the lingering echoes of his lover's song. "You _promised_."

_**A soundless song, though never heard  
Still embraces with tone and word.  
A hum and a sigh, so quietly there  
Always will keep the lovers ensnared  
A warm forever stone will keep one alive  
Though never again will the heartbeat revive  
The song drifts away, though never is lost  
It will warm, it will love, the heartbroken frost  
As the sun sets upon the life of the stone  
The one who has gone is never alone  
Those who are left will drown in their tears  
Hoping forever their love will appear  
And as melody ends, words flowing through night  
The song's never heard and love's faded from sight**_


End file.
